Huawei goes after MediaTek in patent lawsuit

Huawei filed a lawsuit in a Chinese court, alleging that MediaTek has committed patent infringement

Chipmaker MediaTek confirmed that it has been slapped with a lawsuit from Huawei that alleges the former is guilty of patent infringement. While further details — such as which patents are specifically in question — have yet to be revealed, it is widely speculated that the case, which was filed in a Chinese court, is part of the Chinese vendor’s efforts to increase revenue via licensing fees and royalties.

Huawei doesn’t disclose its licensing income, but is known to be one of the industry’s largest patent holders and in 2022, it accumulated $560 million in royalty fees. By the end of last year, the company had 140,000 global patents, with around 200 licensing and cross-licensing agreements, including a global patent licensing agreement with Ericsson that spans 3G, 4G and 5G network infrastructure and consumer devices, as well as across-license agreement with Amazon that resolved pending litigation between the two. Additional licensing agreements made in 2023 include those with Xiaomi, Sharp and vivo.

The less friendly side of the 2023 story tells of another patent lawsuit from Huawei, this one aimed at Netgear, arguing that some of the U.S.-based Wi-Fi equipment vendor’s Wi-Fi 6 products infringe on Huawei’s standard-essential patents (SEPs) for Wi-Fi. Earlier this year, however, Netgear fired back with another lawsuit that claims Huawei is “weaponizing” its massive patent portfolio, and in doing so, is in violation of U.S. antitrust law.

Huawei began to more aggressively secure — and litigate against — patent deals beginning in 2021 as a response to increasing licensing fees stemming from increasingly restrictive U.S. sanctions. In May 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce added Huawei to its Entity List, a decision that effectively banned the company from buying parts and components from U.S. companies without U.S. government approval. Under the order, Huawei needs a U.S. government license to buy components from U.S. suppliers.